Present Indicative

This is the tense that is most often used in Spanish and English.   It is used for:

1) An action or state of being at the present time

    Hablo español. - I speak Spanish.

2) Habitual action

    Voy a la biblioteca todos los días. - I go to the library every day.

3) A general truth, something which is permanently true

    Seis menos dos son cuatro. -  Six minus two are four.

4)  A near future

    Mi hermano llega mañana. - My brother arrives tomorrow.

5) The meaning of "almost" or "nearly" when used with por poco.

    Por poco me matan.   They almost killed me.

For regular verbs that  in the indicative end in ar you form the present indicative tense by dropping the ar ending and adding the appropriate ending using the chart below.

Verbs that end - ar

Test yourself on the following "-ar" verbs: "comprar - to buy", "llegar - to arrive" and "trabajar - to work".  Once you think you know the answer place your cursor over the box and drag it to the right to reveal the answer.

For regular verbs that  in the indicative end in er you form the present indicative tense by dropping the er ending and adding the appropriate ending using the chart below.

Verbs that end - er

Test yourself on the following "-er" verbs: "aprender - to learn", "beber - to drink" and "leer  - to read".  Once you think you know the answer place your cursor over the box and drag it to the right to reveal the answer.

For regular verbs that  in the indicative end in ir you form the present indicative tense by dropping the ir ending and adding the appropriate ending using the chart below.

Verbs that end - ir

Test yourself on the following "-ir" verbs: "escribir - to write", "recibir - to receive" and "vivir - to live".  Once you think you know the answer place your cursor over the box and drag it to the right to reveal the answer.